The Sonic Arboretum event began at 8 am on Thursday, August 4, 2010, and ended at 2:00 am the following morning. During this time the entire Sonic Arboretum was loaded into the Guggenheim, setup, tested, re-tested, and then Andrew and his road crew ran soundcheck, fine tuning the setup to coax every possible enchantment from the horns.
The museum was closed that day, giving all of us a very private and privileged view of the Guggenheim’s revered collection. David Byrne also stopped in to check things out. Needless to say, meeting him was an unexpected thrill!
By 4 pm, a line of fans snaked around the museum on 5TH Avenue. Some had been there since morning, many without tickets, hoping for some luck.
When the doors opened at 7:30 pm, the Bird Devotees took their place stage side (where they did not move for nearly 5 hours), while the rest of them (2000+) mingled among the horns, took in the Dark Sounds exhibit, and found their ideal vantage point for the show.
At 8 pm promptly, Andrew took the stage and the crowd fell silent – instantly. For the next couple hours Andrew bewitched them. Sounds rose up from the horns and floated unimpeded to the atrium five floors up. The crowd watched the show from the museum’s ramps, looking like rings on a tree. The museum, bathed in purple light, was ancient old growth, the hornlings and hornlets young saplings. It was a Midsummer Night’s Dream.